The Hindu Newspaper Had Stolen Rafael Papers From Defense Ministry: Know All About It Here

The ‘Rafale Deal’ is simply a deal as per which India was to purchase 36 Rafale jets from France for the Indian Air-force. The deal and its every clause and sub-clause is in limelight since the past year.

Last time you heard of it was in December, when the Supreme Court (SC) had dismissed
corruption allegations on the ruling regime with regard to the terms of the
deal.

Latest
Developments

After the last verdict, a review petition was filed by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie as well as activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan as they were not satisfied with the last judgement, for it was allegedly based on reports made under the ruling regime, and therefore distorted the judgment.

The Petitioners

The
Attorney General’s Stand:

When the plea was heard by the SC this Wednesday, the Attorney General (AG) of India, K. K.Venugopal said that the Supreme Court that the petitioners should not produce the documents as they were ‘stolen’ from the Defense Ministry; and for the same reason the judges should not even look into those documents.

The rationale behind it was that these were ‘secret’
documents and contained ‘sensitive’ information as it was related to defence
and security of India.

To this the petitioners said that the AG was trying to
intimidate the court, thus committing a criminal contempt.

He also said that since the critically acclaimed daily, The Hindu was already publishing reports based on these stolen documents, the Government of India was even thinking of taking criminal action against The Hindu under the Official Secrets Act (OSA).

OSA is a colonial era law that makes spying and sharing ‘secret’ information, amongst other things a punishable offence. It is a framework that deals with sedition, and other potential threats to the integrity of the nation.

The AG of India also accused The Hindu of trying to influence the Supreme Court’s verdict by deliberately publishing articles, right before the hearing; and called this a contempt of court.

The Hindu has said
that all this was done in public interest. It also said that under no
conditions would it reveal its sources.

Can the government seek shelter under the aegis of national security if the country is broken through a corrupt practice?

Even if the evidence was stolen, the SC can look into it, if it was found relevant.

What has
happened today?

In an interesting turn of events, the AG has said that the
documents were not stolen but were ‘photocopies of the
original’. He also said that he shouldn’t have used a word as strong as ‘stolen’.

Attorney General

But all this has stirred some important
debates:

How thin is the line
between honest journalism and keeping the national security.

Why does a draconian law like the Official Secrets Act still find place in Indian democracy? (It was made by the British during the Indian National Movement for independence to suppress dissenting nationalist voices)

How thinly guarded can a ministry as important as the defense ministry be to leak ‘secret, sensitive’ documents pertaining to the national security?

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